PreCursive

  Well, here I was. Standing in front of a dain, waiting for a o finish eating so I could collect his ptes like he was a child. Not only that, but it was a hat apparently wao see me viciously mauled to death. Great. I didn’t even have the option of eavesdropping this time. Magnus hadn’t made any noise inside his room since I’d been standing out here, much less spoken.

  Whatever, I wasn’t actually up here to wait on Magnus anyway.

  While I may have been distracted by Magnus’s horrific painting, I’d still gotten a good look at his room. Nothing in there had matched the description Grey had given me of a Ward Stohe room hadn’t even had any eg rooms to check, either. Bizarrely, I’d noticed a se of the room that tained a bathing and washing station with little seing off. I had no idea what that was about.

  There hadn’t been any kind of safe in the room either, to potentially store it in. From what Grey had told me, you couldn’t do that with Ward Stohey had to be resting on a specially prepared plinth that helped project the field the stone produced. It arently as much a part of the setup as the stone was, and it wasn’t portable.

  If the stone wasn’t in Magnus’s room…

  Then I had to check out the only other room ohird floor.

  Casting a gnce back over my shoulder at the door to Magnus’s room, I soundlessly walked across the hall to the door on the left side of the corridor. I was mindful of the hat my feet were making on the hardwood fl, as I had no idea the level of Perception that Magnus had. Once I had reached it, I reached out aly tried the rightmost double door handle, only for it to refuse to budge.

  Shit, locked.

  Unfortunately, the lessons oh Silvia had given me hadn’t included lockpig. Like a fool, I hadn’t even thought to ask for them. I stood there for a moment, pting the keyhole I could see beh the handle. You know, it was actually pretty damn big, about the size of my upper thumb. Maybe I could see something through it?

  Croug down, I put my eye level with the keyhole. And yup, I was right. I could see through it just fine.

  The room oher side of the door wasn’t quite as big as Magnus’s had been. It arsely decorated, and only really had ohing in it. I felt a surge of adrenaline run through me at the sight of it.

  That had to be the Ward Stone.

  H over the top of a nearly four-foot-tall sculpted n of marble was a basketball-sized k of clear blue crystal. Carved in the shape of a heptahedron like Grey had told me it would be, the stone and the marble plinth it rested above were absolutely covered in carved runes. For a moment, I just watched it spin in pce.

  Standing up and taking a few steps back from the door, I soundlessly pumped my fist in triumph. I’d do. I’d mao find where both the trol ste and the Ward Stone were bei. Now I just had to wait for my ce to exfiltrate the manor. It shouldn’t be that long, only a few more hours. The sves weren’t allowed to stay in the manor, after all.

  However, I didn’t get to enjoy my success for long.

  I never saw the blow that knocked me out ing.

  ………………………………………

  I don’t know how long I was unscious. Slowly, I began to drift back to sciousness, aware of a vicious pain in the bay head and a sticky sensation in my hair. I tried to open my eyes, only to hiss at the dlelight that burhem. I retained enough presenind this sensation.

  Shit, I had a cussion.

  “Ah, you’re awake.” I heard groggily somewhere above me. Despite my cussion, that voice sent a spike of ice running down my spine.

  That was Magnus.

  Eyes flying open, I tried to jerk upright and escape from him. Only, I was stopped in my tracks by something holding me down. Turning wild eyes to whatever it was, I discovered that I had matached to both of my arms. Jerking on them, I found there was no way I was getting out of them easily. They were bolted to the floor.

  Fighting against my cussion as hard as I could, I cast a wild gaze around. I was in Magnus’s room again, in the ter of it this time. He had rolled the rge rug I had noticed out of the way to expose a square se of stohat had multiple metal is. My s were attached to a few of them, and I was resting in the middle of the square. Not only that, but I could see multiple dark brown stai into the stone around me…

  “Oh, do calm down, cattle.” I heard Magnus say ptuously behind me. Jerking my head around, I found him staring at his grotesque painting in front of the still-open baly doors. Beyond him, I could see that the sun had finally set. Fuck. If the sun was down, that meant the sves had already been dismissed for the night.

  “W-what do you want with me?” I asked, very real fear in my voice. Had he seen past my mask somehow? Did he know who I was?

  “Did you enjoy gaping at my work earlier?” Magnus said, not answering my question. “I’ve felt unusually inspired, tely. It’s not often one of my chosen prey escapes me, and now this one,” He tapped a finger right over my mangled fa the painting. “Has done so twice. I admit, it has my blood up. But I’m not quite satisfied with this piece yet. I feel like it’s missing something. And I believe I know what that is.” Magnus finally turned around to face me.

  He had a rge, deadly-looking dagger clutched in his right hand.

  “The reds aren’t quite right.” He said with a crazed glint in his eyes.

  ………………………………………

  Magnus bled me nearly to the point of death. I only guess that he’d figured out, through long practice, how much blood he could take from one person before they weren’t of any use anymore.

  First, he’d pinned me to the ground with only one hand by putting his hand over my mouth and holdihere. Nothing I did even budged him, no matter how hard I struggled. Theook his dagger and opened an artery in my right arm in order to get me bleeding. He collected everything I lost in a bowl he’d brought with him. At one point, I was so desperate and wild with fear I even tried to reay dagger. I don’t know what I was intending to use it for when Magnus was so much strohan I was, but I wasn’t thinking straight in my panic.

  But even that was deo me. The s holding me down were so short and tightly ected to the floor that I couldn’t reach the hiddeh on my thigh. Not with Magnus holding me down. All I could do was stare up at him above me with wild eyes as stole my literal lifeblood.

  Even that wasn’t enough for him, though.

  Dazed and weakened, I watched as Magnus held the bowl up to exami critically. He clucked his tongue before shaking his head. “Not nearly enough.” Before I could even scream, Magnus poune again while withdrawing something from a pou his waist. This time, he grabbed my nose and forcefully shoved something against my mouth, nearly breaking my froh. From my prone position, I looked down at whatever it was. It was a small bottle full of a dark, nearly wine-red liquid.

  A potion.

  I didn’t want to drink it, but I had no choice. Eventually, I o breathe, and Magnus took that opportunity to pour the potion down my throat. I had to swallow it, or I would die drowning on nd. I could feel the potion begin to work rapidly on me, and I watched with dull eyes as the trig wound on my right arm began to gush once more. It seemed as if Magnus’s potion was some kind of blood replenisher.

  Things grew hazy after this point.

  I don’t think that was the st time Magnus used a potion on me, in order to get more blood. But I ’t be sure. All I know is that he bled me enough to fill a small bucket by the time he was done.

  I was drifting in and out of sciousness at this point, well aware that I was in real danger of death from exsanguinatioe Magnus being finished with me, the wound on my right arm was still oozing. pletely out of my mind, I watched dully as Magnus began to mix something into the bucket and mix it in with a satisfied hum.

  So, this was how I was going to die. Bled out by a madman in order for him to make a more depraved painting.

  I’m srey. I’m sorry Azarus.

  I don’t think I’ll be able to help you escape, after all.

  I passed out, certain I was about to die.

  But not for long.

  A hideous burniion, inating on my wounded arm, shocked me back to life. My eyes flew back open and I screamed wildly in renewed agony from the sensation of my cut wouing closed. Magnus was standing above me, holding a red-hot hooked fire poker over the injury he had caused on me, cauterizing it with a bored look on his face.

  “Oh, cease your caterwauling, bloodbag,” Magnus said sfully. “You should be grateful I’m doing anything at all. You’re only getting this much because I don’t want to be bothered calling for your corpse to be taken away. You haul your own carcass out of here now that I’m done.” With a ptuous flick of his wrist, Magnus tossed the fire poker bato the firepce from which it had inated, on the eastern wall of his quarters. The first erupted into renewed fmes, burning away my blood and viscera stuck to the poker. With a spoken word from Magnus that I didn’t uand, the manacles around my wrists fell off.

  Despite being released, I felt too weak from blood loss to even pte getting up and esg. I still tried though. Shakily, I turned over onto my stomad tried to push myself up, only to fail. I fell ft on my face. In front of me was one of the discarded bottles of blood-replenishing potion. Through blurry eyes, I was able to tell that there were still a few drops left inside. Maybe…maybe that would be enough…

  I grabbed at it desperately with weakened fingers, barely managing to tilt it up enough for the few remaining drops to fall into my mouth. I let go of it afterward, the gss cttering to the stoion of the floor beh me. I…I think I felt a bit better. But only slightly. I mao get myself up onto my khis time, in order to see that Magnus had pletely turned his bae. He ainting with my blood.

  I felt a surge of never before felt hatred roll over me. I wao kill Magnus more than I had ever wao kill anyone in my life. Slowly, my hand began to drift toward my hidden dagger. If I got him in the right pce with The Stilnt Bde, maybe it would be enough…

  I was shocked out of my revenge fantasies by Magnus speaking again. “If you’re not out of my chambers in the few minutes, cattle, I’ll finish the job.” He said with his back still turned, audibly bored with me. He never oopped painting. “I don’t care what Orinbar says about it.”

  Damnit. I hated him, and I wanted him dead, but I was too weak right now. If I tried to attack him, I wouldn’t be able to get my bde in his back fast enough. He would be able to hear me ing from a mile away and would kill me instantly f.

  I didn’t bother saying anything iurn to his order. I merely pushed myself up on wobbly legs and stumbled my way out of his door. Before I closed it behind me, I made sure to turn around and burn the image of Magnus merrily painting away with paint made from my blood into my memory. I didn’t want tet this.

  Aime, Magnus. I promise you that.